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The most important things you can do moving forward are to take control of your risk factors - that's fantastic that you quit smoking. Hopefully you are also eating healthy and exercising regularly - you can't underestimate the impact of exercise on peripheral artery disease symptoms. Your doctor is also hopefully working with you to manage your blood pressure and cholesterol.

In my experience, arterial studies of the legs are not routinely done in the absence of changes in symptoms or physical examination, particularly if a patient does not wish to undergo future procedures. This is worthwhile discussing further with your own doctors.View Thread

In general, calcification of the coronary arteries suggests that the presence of atherosclerosis. It does not necessarily mean that a person will develop symptoms or have heart attack in the future. This type of test result can be valuable for someone who is trying to prevent future heart problems. Your doctor may recommend a particular diet, regular exercise (pending the results of your stress test), and/or medications such as a statin.

This seems like a good opportunity to figure to discuss with your doctor how this new information will impact your medications/lifestyle choices and help keep you healthy moving forward.View Thread

You don't mention your son's current age, but having a child at any age with a chronic health problem can be frightening for everyone in the family.

It seems like he has an attentive cardiologist who is watching him closely with a follow-up echo to see if surgery is appropriate - you should voice your concerns with the cardiologist and see if there is anything else that you should be doing, or if follow-up should be sooner.

The good news is that the success rate with this type of surgery is very high, and following surgery, he will hopefully be able to live actively and healthfully. Take care.View Thread

My guess is that your cholesterol didn't drop by nearly half in that timeframe, but there was an issue with either of the testing methods. The fact that it tested similar on #2 and #3 might suggest that the issue was with the first test.View Thread

I agree that regular cardiology follow-up seems appropriate, even in the absence of symptoms. Visiting with your doctor is a great opportunity to review medications, address possible side effects, discuss healthy eating, and exercise. And just to see how you're doing!View Thread

It might be helpful to talk to your doctor about what kind of treatments are currently using, and then discussing what else could be available, including BiV-ICD, LVADs, etc. It seems as though you are not a candidate for a heart transplant by your note. Sometimes it can also be helpful to have an evaluation at a medical center that specializes in the care of people with advanced heart disease. I wish you all the best.

One possibility to consider would be a cardiac rehabilitation program. They are covered by insurance and are associated with a lower future risk of heart attack. In addition to providing a structured exercise program in a safe environment, there is also nutritional counseling and sometimes discussions about depression, feelings, etc. Hopefully there is one available in your area.View Thread

It would seem appropriate to consider seeing a cardiologist or have some cardiac testing given her symptoms of edema, chest pain, and shortness of breath. Sometimes doctors recommend an ultrasound of the heart or a stress test to get more information. Would be worth discussing with your doctor.View Thread

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